Racking JAOM v2

I made this second batch of Ancient Orange Mead to share with my buddy Rex. He gave me about 6 lbs of wildflower honey and I’m turning it into mead.The wildflower honey is different from the honey (mostly from canola flowers) I’ve used in all my other meads; it’s darker and had a more full bodied flavour.

I first pitched it together on Nov 25. It’s cleared and, according to Joe, that means it’s ready. I’m not convinced. You can see from the pictures just how much sediment has accumulated. SO, I’ve racked it and I’ll let it sit for at least another two months. In a recent conversation I had with another brewer he told me that mead generally has a significant flavour jump after 3 months, 6 months and 10 months. I know JAOM is supposed to be a quicker mead to make but I want to give it at least 3 months before I bottle it and share it with Rex.

The pictures show:

• Two views of the new and old (bottled on Dec 16, pitched Oct 7) JOAMs side by side.
• A before racking shot from above.
• The detritus left behind after racking.
• An after racking shot; it’ll need some time to clear again.
• Two after racking shots side-by-side with my first JAOM.
• The SG reading: 1.040

I topped it all up with about 500ml of spring water after racking.

 

The dark colour of the wildflower honey will make this a darker mead. I made it exactly the same way I did my first JAOM except for this change in the honey. It’ll be interesting to see what effect that has on the flavour.

Ancient Orange Mead v2

My buddy Rex gave me about 6lbs of farm fresh wildflower honey. I’m making some more of Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead with it (because its the fastest mead I’ve learned how to make to date; 2.5 months) which we’ll share.

RECIPE
3.5 lbs of honey
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove
1 orange cut into eighth pieces
Spring water to fill a gallon jug
1 teaspoon of bread yeast

I put everything into a jug, except the yeast, and shook it up like crazy for 5-6 min (sore arms). I left a good 4-5 inches of head space in the jug. Then I added the yeast and put an airlock on top.

The yeast action was quite intense for the first few days. As it settled down I topped up the water until it was a few centimeters from the stopper.

Now we wait. About three months.

The last picture below shows this mead side by side with the one I made about two months back. It’s almost done.